She even turned out to be pleasant company, at least when she wasn't giving into the temptation to ramble on about her passion, the adult companions she'd helped create. Not that it wouldn't have also been enjoyable to talk to her about that subject, since she was good at expressing concepts in ways he could understand without seeming like she was talking down to him. Considering his own interest in companions, he could've happily spent hours talking about them.
If the topic didn't serve as a stark reminder of Ali's betrayal and Terra's part in it.
Still, he found himself spending more and more time with the scientist. And although it might've been hubris, he even thought there might've been a spark of something there, although Terra didn't show much on her end beneath her studious demeanor. Aside from seeming to enjoy spending time with him, that is. And perhaps it spoke to his own lack of a romantic life since acquiring Ali, that even that much was enough to give him hope.
But pathetic or not, he'd begun tentatively pursuing the possibility, in spite of knowing that whatever fling they had would almost certainly end the moment they reached this HAE base. Things might have even gone somewhere, if Ali had actually told him how long it would take to reach their destination, so he knew how much time he had to work with.
As it was, their unexpected arrival sharply ended that possibility.
As for his former lover, he only spoke to her a handful of times. At first their conversations revolved around her trying to answer his questions about how she'd changed, and let him air his grievances about her doing so against his wishes. Working to rebuild his trust so they could return to their previous relationship.
She even removed her disguise while they were in private, in an attempt to ease his suspicions with a more familiar face. Although Aiden wasn't sure how effective that was, since in a way it hurt even more to think of a strange mind working calculatingly behind the hauntingly beautiful features he knew and loved so well.
Once Ali seemed to realize that winning back his trust wouldn't happen quickly, she changed tactics and provided him with information about the general universe. Things she knew he'd be interested in, like recent evidences of various Deek atrocities and calamitous negligences, the gross violations of human rights, and the festering corruption.
She also went into surprising detail about the Movement's war against HAE. Which, according to her, wasn't nearly as one-sided as it should've been. Especially since Aiden got the feeling that there were sensitive details she was keeping from him.
He'd traveled a fair chunk of the explored universe in his time, at least before the war ended and he stuck to activity in just his home galaxy. Even so, most of the events she talked about involved places he'd never been, groups of people he wasn't familiar with or had only briefly heard of.
With trillions of people out there, spread across several galaxies in this galactic cluster, humanity was unimaginably vast and widespread. So much so, in fact, that he grudgingly had to give the Movement credit for managing to keep it all under their heel. In spite of how poorly they were doing it, or the chaos and suffering they caused in the process.
Actually forget credit, blame was the word he was looking for.
Aiden finally learned why Ali been willing to tell him all this, things that were almost certainly sensitive intelligence directly from HAE, during the last conversation they had. Which happened only hours before she unexpectedly announced that they'd arrived at their destination.
It didn't begin well, although that might've been mostly his fault. The Caretaker had come to him in his quarters again, once again doffing the disguise so he could see her flawless features and the cascade of silken hair shimmering in an inky wave down her back, reflecting blue highlights in the dim lighting.
From her sultry demeanor, it was obvious she was inviting him to intimacy. But tempting as it was when she was there looking so flawlessly stunning, and it had been longer since they'd last been together then he'd ever gone since first acquiring her, the idea still made him distinctly uneasy.
So she sighed and settled down on the bed, looking almost forlorn. “What happens once we've delivered Miss Sarr and the others to safety, my love?” she asked. “What will we do next?”
Maybe it was his bad mood about turning her down when a large part of him fiercely wanted her, but he didn't take the question well. “Why are you asking? Spying on me for your new masters?”
Ali gave him a wounded look. “I was speaking more about our relationship moving forward, actually. Although since you mention it, there was something I wanted to discuss with you. An option you might not have considered.”
“I can't wait to hear what you've got for me that isn't obviously beneficial to HAE, probably at my expense,” Aiden said, trying not to sound too sarcastic.
He failed, and her resultant expression made him feel like a petulant child. “Your greatest lament since I've met you is that you feel like you're fighting alone,” she replied calmly. “One man against the villainy of the Deconstructionist Movement, waging a hopeless war while even your own crew is only with you for the money.”
The Caretaker gave him a significant look. “But you've now learned that you're not the only one fighting the Deeks. That there are allies you can align yourself with who can help you achieve our mutual goal.”
He snorted. “Allies getting their exhaust ports clogged all across the explored universe. Same as the other potential resistance movements that've sprung up over the years, only to get crushed too quickly for me to even consider joining them.”
“You don't think the Caretakers capable of doing what we claim?” she said more than asked. “Be that as it may, my love, our goals align. The
